PrepTest 120, Section 2, Question 11
The Cultural Revolution of 1966 to 1976, initiated(454 more words not shown)
It can be inferred from(23 more words not shown)
- AIts development was(10 more words not shown)
- BIt failed to(9 more words not shown)
- CThe rural scenes(9 more words not shown)
- DIronically, it had(15 more words not shown)
- EIts nostalgic representation(15 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
My first reaction is to the word “Unfortunately”: the writer regrets that Native Soil became trivialized by trying to appeal to Western galleries and collectors. That gives us an attitude, but we should stay open to an answer about the movement's role rather than only its disappointing outcome.
What we’re looking for
What else do we know? It kept the rural focus but turned from Scar Art's bleakness toward an idealized view of traditional peasant life. Let's test the choices against that account.
Working the answers
- A
The narrative tells us how one development followed another. It doesn't say that this outcome was inevitable—that no other response was possible.
- B
We aren't given a comparison of how widely the two movements were recognized. Commercial influence on Native Soil isn't evidence that it failed to gain recognition.
- C
We don't know what most people in China thought of those scenes. Their seeming appeal doesn't establish a majority response.
- D
Both Native Soil and Revolutionary Realism can be described as idealizing, but the writer doesn't establish that they share several key elements. The comparisons emphasize Native Soil's reaction against the earlier rigidity, not this claim of multiple fundamental similarities.
- ECorrect
This shifts from the outcome I first noticed to the movement's method of opposition. The final paragraph says Native Soil reacted to the Cultural Revolution's rigidity by “idealizing traditional peasant life.” That idealization is its nostalgic representation of rural life, so E restates the stated connection.
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